Breaking

Wildfire southeast of Tucson faces another 'red flag' day

Things were quiet this morning on the Horseshoe 2 Fire burning
in the Chiricahua Mountains, 110 miles southeast of Tucson.

“But things are starting to dry out and temperatures are
rising,” said Dave Killebrew, spokesman for the team fighting the
blaze.

A second day of “red flag” conditions — low humidity and high
winds — is predicted.

The fire, burning since May 8 across the Chiricahua Wilderness,
is now approaching the Chiricahua National Monument, which has been
evacuated and closed.

Evacuations were also ordered Thursday for the rural enclave of
Paradise and homes in East Whitetail Canyon after fire blew across
fire lines on the northwest side.

“The new contingency area is going to encompass a fairly large
area north of the current burned area, up to, but not including the
Chiricahua National Monument,” said Killebrew. “We’re going to try
to keep it out of the monument if at all possible,” he said.

Before Thursday, containment lines encircled 75 percent of the
fire. That percentage has shrunk to 50 percent.